Duke  University  Libraries 

Resolutions  pas 
Conf  Pam  #253 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,   Jan.  30,    1865.— Laid  on 
the  table  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 

[By  Mr.  Dejarnette.] 


RESOLUTIONS 

Passed  at  a  Meeting  of  the  \\^th  V'lrginm  Infantry — January  24,  1 865. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  14th  Virginia  Infantry,  Stewart's  brigade, 
Pickett'»  division,  held  at  their  camp,  near  Bermuda  Hundreds,  Janu- 
ary 24th,  1865,  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions  were  unani- 
mously adopted : 

Whereas  the  successes  which  have  recently  attended  the  armies  of 
our  enemies,  in  their  mad  determination  to  subjugate  an  enlightened, 
christian  and  independent  people,  have  cast  a  gloom  over  our  land : 
And  whereas  a  disposition  of  many  wenk-hearted  counselors  to  mag- 
nily  defeat  into  hopeless  disaster,  and  to  give  current  publicity  to  ru- 
mors questioning  the  unabated  fervor  of  the  veterans  of  our  armies, 
in  support  of  the  sacred  cause  for  which  they  have  sacrificed  every 
comfort  during  four  years  of  continuous  warfare,  and  which  they  still 
live  to  defend,  has  generated  a  degree  of  despondency  in  the  breasts 
of  some,  of  whom  we  might  have  expected  better  things — and  deem- 
ing an  unqualified  expression  of  our  opinion  as  a  regiment,  and  a  simi- 
lar one  on  the  part  of  our  brothers  in  arms,  will  be  sufficient  to  dispel 
this  gloom,  and  to  check  and  extinguish  forever  the  wild  rumors  which 
have  found  too  rich  a  repast  in  credulous  minds,  for  the  public  good : 
Therefore, 

1.  Resolved,  that  a  southern  soldier  or  citizen,  who  for  any  other 
consideration  than  that  of  absolute  freedom  and  eternal  sejtnratioD 
from  that  enemy  who  has  spared  no  species  of  insult  nor  injury  that 
malice  could  devise,  would  Iny  down  iiis  arms,  and  now  submit,  m 
unworthy  to  breathe  the  air  of  freedom,  and  should,  with  his  pos- 
terity, be  the  serf  of  serfs,  to  the  remotest  generation. 

2.  Resolved,  that  we  hereby  pledge  to  the  living,  and  to  those  who 
Bhall  come  after  us,  in  support  of  our  own  liberty,  and  their  inusom 
from  worse  than  Egyptian  boud.ige,  as  our  fathers  have  done  before 
us,  "our  lives,  our  fortunes,  and  our  sacred  hotior,"  assuiing  them 
that  it  is  better  to  die  freemen  than  to  live  slaves. 

3.  Resolved,  that  we  have  unboun<led  confidence  in  our  ability, 
under  the  guidance  of  an  overruling  Providence,  to  achieve  a  glori- 
ous triumph  in  the  present  struggh?,  directed  by  that  great,  good  anj 
gallant  spirit  that  has  so  often  led  us  to  victory. 


4.  Resolved,  that  the  thanks  of  the  army  are  due,  and  are  hereby 
tendered  to  the  Congress  of  the  Confederate  States,  for  the  energy 
and  vigor  displayed  in  its  recent  legislation,  and  its  evident  determi- 
nation to  sustain  our  soldiery,  through  eveiy  trial,  to  the  rich  reward 
of  peace  and  happiness. 

6.  Resolved,  that  we  have  watched,  with  grateful  pleasure,  the 
j)roceedings  of  the  Virginia  legislature,  and  are  proud  to  be  repre- 
sented by  so  patriotic  a  body. 

6.  Resolved,  that  we  earnestly  appeal  to  the  citizens  and  soldiers, 
to  rededicato  themselves,  their  lives  and  fortunes,  upon  the  altar  of 
their  country,  and  resolve  that  the  graves  of  our  fathers,  our  homes 
and  our  firesides,  shall  still  be  ours,  to  transmit  as  heir-looms  to  the 
free  and  happy  generations  yet  unborn,  who  shall  mark  with  emu- 
lous pridC;  our  "foot-prints  on  the  sands  cf  time." 

7.  Resolved,  that  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  forwarded  to  the 
.Virginia  legislature,  the  Congress  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  to 
the  papers  of  the  city  of  Richmond,  for  publication. 


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